House-door letter-box



(No Model.)

B. G. HUDSON.

HOUSE DOOR LETTER BOX.

No. 452,223. Patented May 12,1891. Fig.1. l i

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE EMMA O. HUDSON, OF SEATTLE,VASHINGTON.

HOUSE-DOOR LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,223, dated May 12,1891.

Application filed October 22, 1890- Serial No. 368,945. (No model.)

To all w/wm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMMA O. HUDSON, of Seattle, in the county of Kingand State of lVashington, have invented a new and Improved Letter-Box,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of letter-boxes whichare attached to the interior of the doors of buildings to receive themail for the inmates, and also to an improved door-plate and bell to beused in connection with the letter-box. Then letter-boxes are attachedto the outside of doors they are unsightly objects, and are likely to berobbed of their contents; and the object of my invention is to attach aletter-box to the interior of the door so that it cannot be easilyreached; to provide a swinging doorplate for closing the entrance to theletterbox, so that the entrance will not be noticeable, and also toprovide an electric bell which will connect with the door-plate, so thatwhen it is opened to introducematter into the box the bell will besounded.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for preventing theabstraction of the mail-matter from the box through the e11- trance tothe same.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features ofconstruction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter fullydescribed, and then pointed out in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a broken front elevation of a door, showing the door-platewhich is used in connection with the letter-box. Fig. 2 is a verticaltransverse section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, through the door-plate andletter-box; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig.2, showing the electric bell and the connection between the bell and thedoorplate.

The letter-box A is of the usual construction, and may be made of anysize and shape, the box having on its front side a suitable door A whichis provided with a lock and key, and having an inclined opening athrough its back side and near the upper end, through which themail-matter is introduced. The box is firmly attached to the inside ofthe door B, and the door has an upwardly-inclined opening Z), which ismade to align with the opening a of the box, so that mail-matter may beintroduced through the openings 1) and a into the box A.

The letter-box has a rcvoluble shaft 0, mounted transversely thereinimmediately below the opening a, said shaft having blades 0, arrangedradially thereon, there being three blades shown in the drawings,although any convenient number may be used, and it will thus be seenthat when a letter or other article is inserted in the box it will dropupon one of the blades, thus turning the shaft C, so that it may passthe blades to the bottom of the box; but after it has been inserted theshaft and blades will prevent it from being abstracted through theopenings at and b.

On the top of the box is an electric bell D of the usual construction,the bell having the ordinary gong, the magnets E, and the armature F,which is counteracted by a spring and provided with a hammer G in theusual manner. The construction of the bell is not material, as it formsno part of my invention, and any electric bell maybe used, if desired.

On the front of the door 13 is a door-plate J, which consists of twosimilar parts J and J the lower part J being fixed to the doorimmediatelybelow the openingh, and the upper part J being hinged to thelower part, so as to swing downwardly and close the opening to the door,the hingesj, by which it is hinged, being arranged on the inside of theplate, so as not to be noticeable from the outside. The lower part J isadapted to have the number of the building produced thereon, and theupper part may be used to display a name. A button K or other suitablefasteningis placed upon the door immediately above the upper part J ofthe plate, so as to hold the plate against the door.

I have shown a rectangular aperture I) through the door, and the upperpart of the door-plate is adapted to cover the aperture; but it isobvious that the aperture may be made in any desired shape and that thedoorplate maybe made to correspond with it. A sleeve L extendstransversely through the door l3 immediately above the opening oraperture b, the sleeve having a shoulder L near its inner end, and aplunger M is slidably mounted in the sleeve, the plunger having areduced end M which projects inwardly through the inner end of thesleeve, and which terminates in a metallic strip m, the ends of whichare bent outward at right angles and notched, as best shown in Fig. 2. Aspiral spring Z is introduced between the shoulder L of the sleeve L andthe plunger M, so that the plunger is normally pressed outward.

On the inner end of the sleeve L is a ring N, which encircles theelongated end M of the plunger M, and which is insulated from theplunger and from the sleeve. The ring N is connected with one pole of abattery by the wire 0, the wire being attached to the ring in such amanner that when the plunger is pushed outward a notched end of themetallic strip no will come in contact with the wire, and the metallicstrip is connected with one of the binding-posts H of the bell by a wire0, so that when the strip m contacts with the wire 0 the circuit willpass through the strip and through the two wires to the bell. The wire 0which connects with the opposite pole of the battery, is attached to theopposite binding-post H, and it will thus be seen that when the strip oncontacts with the wire 0 the circuit will be closed through the bell,thus causing it to ring.

lVhen a letter or other mail-matter is inserted in the box, the button Kis turned up and the upper part J of the plate turned down, so as topermit the mail-matter to be inserted through the opening Z), and whenthis is done the spring 1 forces the plunger M outward and brings themetallic strip m in contactwith the wire 0, thus closing the circuitthrough the bell and causing it to ring. This notifies the inmates ofthe house that mail-matter has been inserted in the box, and it is alsoan additional precaution against the box being tampered with, as in casethe upper portion of the door-plate is turned down the bell is sure toring, and it will continue to ring until the door-plate is turned backto its normal position, so as to open the circuit. The mail-matterisremoved through the front side in the usual manner.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with a letter-box hav ingan opening and provided with a movable plate for closing said opening,of a plunger provided with a spring, pressing it outward into the pathof the said plate, said plate normally closing the said opening andpressing the plunger inward against the action of its spring, and anelectric bell having circuitwires, one of which is in electricconnection with the plunger and the other insulated therefrom, but inthe outward path of a part thereof, whereby when the plate is moved touncover the opening the plunger will be thrown out to close the circuitand sound the bell until again pressed inward by the plate to break thecircuit, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a letter-box having an opening, a door-platealso having an opening and hinged plate for said opening, and a catchfor holding the plate closed, of a plunger provided with a spring,pressing it outward and having a metal strip on its inner end, and anelectric bell provided with circuitwires, one of which is electricallyconnected with said strip and the other one of which is in the outwardpath of the strip, whereby the circuit will be closed when the plate isswung outward to sound the bell continuously until the plate is againswung inward to break the circuit, substantially as set forth.

EMMA O. HUDSON.

Witnesses:

W. R. HUDSON, E. J. CATCHINGS.

